ABSTRACT
We have considered in the foregoing chapters the most important theories of the unconscious. Five groups of these have been distinguished. According to their measure of importance some have received more exhaustive treatment than others. The early theories, which are dealt with in the first chapter, are bound up with the general philosophical systems of their authors, and so share in the strength or weakness of these systems. The four remaining groups constituting the modern theories have been built up on the basis of experimental psychology. Of these the first which we considered, that of Myers, arose out of the study of " psychical phenomena " and was designed especially to explain the nature and origin of these. We suggested that, in the psycho-analytic theories, the phenomena which Myers sought to elucidate were likely to receive a more adequate and natural explanation. The second group of the modern theories, which we called " The Theories of the Subconscious," have much in common with the theories underlying psychoanalysis, the most important of all the theories. Both groups arose in connection with the study of mental disease in its various forms. The psycho-analytic theories, however, are, as we pointed out, much more thorough than the " Subconscious Theories." These latter introduce the concept of dissociation to account for hysterical symptoms. The psycho-analytic theories go further and throw light on those principles according to which dissociation itself may be explained. On this account we regard the theory of Freud and his school as the most important of all the theories of the unconscious. It is to be accepted, however, with certain restrictions and modifications.
